


The Moment You Recognized Me

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Getting Together, M/M, Time Skips, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 08:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21491419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Steve first meets Tony when he's ten, and thinks he's the coolest person he's ever met.Steve meets Tony again more than a decade later, and still thinks he's the coolest person he's ever met. This time, though, he also sort of falls in love with him.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 66





	The Moment You Recognized Me

**Author's Note:**

> I don't anticipate this story being very long. It will just have a few short chapters. No underage, don't worry. Nothin' weird here. All romance and romantic-y things will happen when Steve is older.
> 
> Unbeta'd, so I apologize for any glaring mistakes.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Steve paused at the ding of a bell when he opened the door to the little bookshop, located a little less than a block away from the school building. He poked his head in, but couldn’t see Ms. Carter from where he stood, so he pushed the heavy door all the way open and trudged inside, shivering at the shift of temperature.

He stomped his boots on the carpet, trying to dislodge as much snow as possible, and revelled in the feeling of warm air on his chilled nose. He unwrapped the threadbare scarf around his neck and hung it on the coat hanger before taking off his backpack and setting it on the floor beside the door. “Ms. Carter?” he called out, tugging his gloves off and stuffing them into the pocket of his winter jacket. Then he unzipped the jacket and hung it beside his scarf on the hanger.

He tramped further inside when he got no answer, his hefty boots clomping along the thinly carpeted floor. Steve was unbothered by the lack of response; Ms. Carter was, after all, a very busy lady.

His feet led him to the cramped science fiction section of the bookstore, as they were wont to do, and he began to browse the familiar books on the shelves, eager to find a title he had not read before. There were a few, the same ones he always guiltily passed over because they didn’t sound very interesting or he didn’t like the look of the covers. Ms. Carter’s voice telling him to never judge a book by its cover always rang in his head whenever he had this thought. He supposed, though, that Ms. Carter didn’t have to know what he was thinking. And he was fairly certain she couldn’t read minds.

By the time he reached the top shelf, he already knew what he was looking for, and he smiled when he found it. He debated searching for the ladder, but he wasn’t allowed to use it without Ms. Carter or Nancy there to help, and neither of them were in sight, so instead he slid off his boots and found footing on the second shelf from the floor. He pushed up with a huff, his knobby knees knocking into one of the shelves and reached far above his head.

His hand never made contact with the book. With a creak, the shelf beneath his feet gave way and sent him tumbling to the floor with a bunch of books.

“Hey, what’s going on over here?”

Steve winced at the question, and probably a bit at his scuffed up elbows as well. He pushed himself to his knees and looked up to find brown eyes staring down at him. What was most surprising about that was not that they were gleaming with amusement—instead of the anticipated exasperation—but that they belonged to a male.

“Who’re you?” Steve blurted, and then blushed at his rudeness. The boy, much older than him, was presumably a customer—Ms. Carter was known to have them occasionally—and Steve had just inadvertently disrupted his shopping experience (as Ms. Carter probably would have reprimanded, but only jokingly).

The boy grinned. “I’m Tony,” he introduced himself, his voice deeper than Steve was expecting now that he was really paying attention. The boy—Tony—thumbed over his shoulder. “I work the register.”

Steve frowned, still kneeling in a pile of books. “Where’s Nancy?”

Tony’s eyebrows drew together, like he was thinking. “Nancy, Nancy… is she the one with the round glasses and the blonde ponytail?”

Steve nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I heard she quit. So, it looks like I’m the new Nancy.” He winked and crouched down beside Steve. “And who are _you_?”

Steve blinked. “Oh. I’m Steve.” He thrust out his hand like his ma taught him to do. “Steve Rogers. Pleasure to meet you.”

Tony stared with wide eyes at Steve’s outstretched hand, and then his lips twitched and his front teeth bit into his bottom lip. His hand completely engulfed Steve’s own when he grasped it and shook. “You too, kid.” When Tony dropped his hand, his gaze moved to the mess on the floor first, and then to the collapsed shelf. “So… what happened over here?”

A flush heated his cheeks again and, Steve was sure, spread all the way up to the tips of his ears. “I was trying to reach for a book. I didn’t mean to break the shelf.” Steve glanced at the door in the back of the shop that led to Ms. Carter’s office. “Are you gonna tell Ms. Carter?”

There was silence for a moment, and Steve looked back to find Tony studying the collapsed shelf. “I’m sure we can clean this mess up ourselves,” he said finally. “No need to get Ms. Carter involved just yet.”

Steve gaped at him in surprise, but nodded vigorously just the same.

As it turned out, the shelf wasn’t really broken. Tony was able to pop it back into place with a good bit of jiggling, and then he taught Steve a bit about the placement of the books on the shelves. Steve listened with rapt attention; if he could learn how to place the books on the shelves, he could do it without Tony’s help the next time he made a mess. Not that Steve planned to have a ‘next time.’

Maybe he could even help Ms. Carter out around the shop. It would make the hours he spent in here a bit less boring, that was for sure.

When they were finished, Steve wouldn’t have known there was ever an accident if he hadn’t been the one to make the mess. “Thanks, Tony,” he said sincerely, pushing himself up off the floor.

“No problem, kid.” Tony turned to the top of the bookshelf, “Now which one of these were you trying to get down?”

Steve pointed to _A Wrinkle in Time_.

Tony grabbed the book. “Really? You like this?”

Steve nodded.

“You’ve read it before?”

Steve nodded again.

“Huh. Interesting.”

Steve didn’t know what Tony meant by that, and decided not to ask. He just took the book that Tony was holding out to him.

“What’s a kid like you doing here all by himself, anyway?” Tony asked, just when Steve was about to turn around and go to his favorite plush chair beside the window that looked outside onto the busy street. He could see snow piling on the sill.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Stop calling me kid, wouldya? I’m not a kid, I’m ten years old. And my name’s Steve.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Tony said in a tone of voice that clearly indicated he was not sorry at all. “Since you’re _ten_.” He stuffed his hands inside the pockets of his jeans in a casual gesture as he gave Steve a scrutinizing look. “I can’t call you Steve.”

“Why not?”

“You’re too scrawny for a Steve. Steves are meant to be big and have mustaches. And probably a mullet.”

“What’s a mullet?”

Tony guffawed. “Your innocence is adorable. Never grow up, kid.”

Steve groaned and was about to protest again when the door in the back opened and Ms. Carter made her first appearance of the afternoon.

A smile brightened her pretty features as soon as she saw Steve. “Steve, darling, lovely to see you! I see you’ve met my nephew already.” She gestured to Tony who still stood behind Steve, her smile turning fond.

“Sure did,” Tony said before Steve could get out a word. “He was just telling me all about his favorite book.” He nodded to the book still in Steve’s hands.

Steve swallowed and then nodded in agreement, even though that wasn’t strictly true. If he was being honest, he was just glad Tony was keeping his promise not to tell Ms. Carter about the mess he’d made.

“Is that right?” Ms. Carter came closer to get a glimpse of the book in Steve’s hands, and then smiled approvingly. “Oh, very nice. I do believe, however, that Tony has some work to do that he probably ought to get back to.” She gave Tony a pointed look.

“Right!” Tony agreed readily. “That I do. I’ll just… yeah.” Tony backed up a few steps before turning around and walking back to the front of the shop, behind the till.

“I’m sorry I forgot to tell you about Nancy leaving,” Ms. Carter said quietly after a moment. “I’m sure you’ll like Tony, though. He’s a fine young man.”

“He was nice,” Steve responded honestly.

Ms. Carter patted his shoulder with a smile. “Well, why don’t you go read your book. And maybe start on your homework, hmm? I’ll be in my office, but as always, if you need me just come and find me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Ms. Carter chuckled and shook her head as she headed back into her office. She had tried to get Steve to stop calling her that, but it just wouldn’t stick.

Steve glanced at Tony once before he followed Ms. Carter’s instructions, grabbing his boots and walking over to his usual chair, collapsing into the fluffy cushions.

He got through half of the second chapter of his book before Tony popped up again.

“You never answered my question, you know.” He had a feather duster in his hand and looked to be dusting off the top shelf of the bookshelf right beside where Steve was reading. “Why are you here alone?”

“I’m not alone,” Steve insisted stubbornly, pulling his feet onto the cushion as if trying to curl into a ball. “Ms. Carter is here.” He hesitated a second before adding, “And so are you.”

“Not that I’m negating what incredibly good company I make, but that’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Steve concentrated very hard on pretending to concentrate on his book.

Tony slumped into the chair across from Steve and stared very hard at him. “You’re avoiding the question. Why?”

Steve sighed and shut his book, knowing a lost cause when he saw one. He wasn’t avoiding the question, not _really_. He just wasn’t sure what to say. He knew that he and his ma operated differently than other families, and he wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed by that, but he never could figure out how to talk about the subject. He much preferred not to.

“My ma works late some days, so Ms. Carter lets me come here after school until Ma picks me up.”

Tony nodded. “Okay, then. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Steve shrugged. He supposed not, if Tony didn’t think so. He went back to his book and Tony went back to his dusting.

And then—“Wait, how do you get here from school?”

Steve resisted the urge to groan. “I walk,” he said simply.

Tony sat back down and stared at him skeptically. “In the snow?”

“Yes.”

“By yourself?”

“Yes.”

“But… there are—are muggers,” Tony’s voice seemed to be getting higher, “and—and, like, child trafficking. Or whatever. Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

“School isn’t very far from here, Tony. And besides, I can take care of myself.”

Tony snorted derisively, and Steve could feel the frown on his own face deepening. “Right. I’m sure all fifty pounds of you can be very intimidating to the bad guys.”

“I weigh more than that!”

Tony ignored him. “Does your mom really let you walk here all by yourself?”

Steve closed his eyes and turned away from Tony’s concerned gaze. “No,” he whispered, ashamed. “She thinks Mr. Phillips drives me here. But he has to go back to the school after, and I don’t want to waste his time. So I tell him that I stay at a friend’s house.” Steve turned back to Tony earnestly. “I don’t mind the walk, honest.”

Tony stared at him for a long moment. “Wow,” he said. “I can’t tell if you’re being crafty or if you’re genuinely that noble. Leaning towards crafty because you’re, like, nine.”

Steve scowled. “_Ten_. And you’re not gonna tell Ms. Carter, are you?”

Tony whistled. “That’s _two_ things now you’re asking me to keep from her. Maybe I should start charging.”

Steve started sputtering. “I—You… What—”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something,” Tony cut him off. He hopped up from the chair and pulled something out from his back pocket before tossing it to Steve. Steve just barely caught it, and he held it up in surprise. It was a Snickers bar. “Bought that today, and I figure you need it more than I do. You’re gonna have to put on some pounds if you want to beat up all the bullies in the alleyways, ya know.”

Tony grinned and strode off back the way he came before Steve could insist he take the candy back, or even thank him. Steve, bewildered, stared at the candy bar and decided not to eat it right away. He was bound to see Tony again, and maybe then he would offer to share it.

Mind made up, Steve went back to his book. And if he happened to be smiling, it was only because of the story he was reading.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this fic, and have a moment, I would really appreciate knowing your thoughts in the comments! Thank you very much :)
> 
> Come find me on [tumblr](https://padraigendragon.tumblr.com/)!


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